Hand tool



April 1940- M. M. DAVENPORT 2, 0

HAND TOOL Filed May 1, 1937;

Patented Apr. 2, 1940 UNIT ED STATES PATENT 7 OFFICE I HAND TOOL Margaret" Davenport, Los Angeles, Calif.

Application May 1, 1937, Serial No. 140,216

2 Claims.

This invention relates to hand tools and particularly to small knives such as are used for paring vegetables and fruit, cleaning fish, particularly shell fish such as shrimp, and for general kitchen use, although it has numerous other applications as well.

An object of the invention is to provide a simple and inexpensive hand tool having a cutting edge adaptable for general cutting purposes to which a knife is put, in combination with a gouging point so directed as to be useful in place of the cutting edge without necessitating shifting the tool to a difierent position in the hand.

I achieve these objects by so bending the end of a pointed knife blade as to cause the extreme tip of the blade to extend at right angles to the length of the blade and in the direction of one lateral edge of the blade, the mentioned lateral edge of the blade being sharpened to constitute a knife edge extending substantially from the handle to the bent tip portion.

A full understanding of the invention can be Fig. 3 is a side view of a blank from which the blade portion of the tool may be formed.

Fig. 4 is an end view of the tool shown in Fig. 1.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, the tool therein depicted comprises a blade member I joined to a handle 2. In accordance with the general practice, the handle 2 may consist oi'two handle members 3 riveted to the opposite sides'of the blademember over a substantial portion of the length of the blade member. I However the particular mode of attachment of the handle to the blade is immaterial, and in the present invention the blade may or may not extend through the handle.

As shown in Fig; 3, the blade is formed from a fiat blank of thin'steel having oneedge 4 beveled or ground so that it is sharp and constitutes a cutting edge which, preferably, extends from closely adjacent the end of the handle 2 to a point 5 adjacent to but spaced from the outer tip of the blank. The blade is preferably tapered on both edges substantially from the end of the cutting edge 5 to the extreme tip.

The tool shown in Figs. 1 and 2 is fabricated from the blank shown inFig. 3 by first twisting the blade causes'the rear edge 9 to begin to bend substantiallyat the point 8'. whereas the front edge deviates from the point 5, thereby producing a more or less sharp fold l5 extending diagonally across the blade from point 5 to point.8. The twisting also tends to produce another sharp bend along a line I I (Fig. 2) extending from the back edge of the blade at the longitudinal point I thereon to the front edge of the blade at a point longitudinally intermediate points 5 and 8.

The extreme tip portion ofthe blade beyond the line 1 is then folded at right angles so" that the extreme tip I2 of the blade extends substantially at'right angles to the longit'udinal axis of the blade and in the direction of the cutting edge 4, as shown in Fig. 1.

It is to be understood, of course, that the bending operations described are performed on the blade while the latter is in relatively soft, flexible condition, and the material of the blade thereafter hardened in any suitable manner. It may usually be desirable to effect the bending of the blade while it is in a heated condition.

The completed tool as shown in Fig. l is very convenient for use in operations requiring alternate cutting or paring and gouging because the tool can be used either for cutting or gouging without shifting the position of the tool in the hand.

Another advantage of the construction disclosed is that since the point l2 projects in the direction of the width of the blade, the blade is very strong with respect to bending forces resulting from a gouging operation which requires considerable pressure tobe exerted by the point I2. Thus I am aware that it is old to provide blades with a gouging point in which the tip of a flat blade is simply bent laterally. With such.

It is to be understood that theconstruction described is not limited to knives. Thus where a cutting edge is not required a structure exactly similar to that disclosed may be employed but without a cutting edge on the blade. Furthermore, where the cutting edge is not desired or required the total length of the blade may be greatly reduced, therebybringing the gouging point i2 closer to the handle.

outer end and the blade member being twisted through an angle of 90 adjacent to but back of the tip portion and the tip portion being bent in the direction of the thin dimension of the blade immediately beyond said 90 twist whereby said tip portion is symmetrically disposed with respect to the plane of said blade.

2. A hand tool of the type described, comprising a handle and a thin blade member secured to and extending from the handle, said thin blade member merging at its outer'end into a flat tip portion lying in a plane perpendicular to the plane of the blade member, said flat tip portion being substantially triangular in shape, a base i portion of the triangular tip being secured to said blade and an opposite point of the triangle 1ying substantially in the extended plane of the blade.

MARGARET M. vDAVENPORT. 

